odd man out.

If you are interested in the conversation between faith and sexuality—and your visiting this blog seems to indicate you are—you need to be aware of the Marin Foundation.  I will do my best to avoid gushing, but I’m not making any promises.

The Marin Foundation is a nonprofit based in Chicago that exists to “build bridges between the LGBT community and the Church through scientific research, biblical and social education, and diverse community gatherings.”  They achieve their goal through five primary “pillars”: biblical and social education classes, national scientific research, Living in the Tension community gatherings, communication and dissemination, and consulting.

That’s the legal jargon.  What you need to know is this: The Marin Foundation is a powerful force for reconciliation and communication around the world, building bridges that go both ways between religious and LGBT communities.  If you have ever become frustrated with all talk and no action in regards to the righting of wrongs and the healing of wounds between Christians and sexual minorities, look no further, as these folks are doing big things.  And people are noticing—the BBC, for example, recently ran a big story and radio segment about the work of the Foundation, concluding that their approach to relationships “may just offer a hopeful model for the future.”

I first discovered the Marin Foundation through a book written by its founder, Andrew Marin: Love Is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community.  When Marin was in college, his three closest friends came out to him in rapid succession, which forced him to reconsider his assumptions about homosexuality and Christianity.  He decided to surround himself with gay culture, seeking to understand LGBT people and their perspectives on life and faith.  Eventually, that enculturation led to deep friendships and even Bible studies, and Marin ended up creating his Foundation to mobilize the work of building bridges.  Since then, Marin published his book and has spoken across the country (even at government events), and the Foundation has done significant research, organized countless gatherings, and opened doors for powerful and life-changing relationships among individuals.

There are many different approaches to handling the intersection of faith and sexuality on an individual level, and those approaches become much more complex when they’re attached to an institution.  Nevertheless, the Marin Foundation is a pioneer when it comes to bridge building, and there is a lot I love about the way they go about their work:

1. A disinterest with the “Big 5” questions.

I’ve listened to numerous interviews with Marin, and the interviewers always (without fail) try to draw out Marin’s beliefs about homosexuality and scripture.  Marin always evades the five questions he calls the “Big 5” (referring to such questions as the nature/nurture debate and the eternal destination of LGBT people), though, and he does so in an attempt to imitate Christ:

“Rather than answering close-ended questions, The Marin Foundation seeks to elevate the conversation and continual fruitful dialogue, as tense as that may be. This is a model taken from Jesus throughout the Gospels. Of the 25 times Jesus was asked close-ended questions, only three times did he respond with a yes or no. These three times were only after he was arrested and admitting he was the Messiah. Prior to this, Jesus never answered close-ended questions with a yes or a no. Instead, he elevated the conversation.

“Our goal by not answering the ‘Big 5’ with a simple yes or no is not to dodge the subject or avoid the issue. We long to engage it. We seek to elevate the conversation, we seek to continue dialogue, and we seek to understand one’s point of view even if it is diametrically opposed to our own. We want to be educated, not dismissed, and we do not want to dismiss others in the process. We want to elongate the conversation, thus changing the conversation.”

That’s an important distinction—avoiding the questions altogether would be lazy and irresponsible.  But I think Marin is right to stay away, at least for now, from the questions that have been most divisive in order to develop relationships and open genuine conversation, and it’s an approach I’ve tried to emulate on this blog.

2. A willingness to hear each side on its own terms.

Too often, the debates between religious and LGBT communities boils down to stereotypes and sound bites, neither of which leads to constructive conversation or any sort of healing.  The Marin Foundation seems committed to letting different kinds of people speak on their own terms, listening closely to what others have to say and giving alternative perspectives their due weight.  Their commitment to diversity is evident from the demographics of their staff:

“On staff we have a gay man, a lesbian, a progressive straight Christian male, a conservative straight Christian male and a straight female. This is the reason why The Marin Foundation does not take a stance on any issues corporately; as we are a group of individuals that comprise many different shades of faith, sexuality and politics in our culture today. If The Marin Foundation staff is not able to build bridges amongst ourselves on daily basis surrounding divisive issues even we disagree with each other on, how can we suggest any other entity should then, either. And our volunteers spread even further—to bisexual activists, transgender individuals, black, white, Asian, intersex individuals, celibate gays and lesbians, old and young, ex-gays, rich and poor. The Marin Foundation is trying as best as we can to live what we understand God’s kingdom to be on earth as it is in heaven.”

3. An effective means of communicating love and repentance.

The Marin Foundation stays busy throughout the year, but one of their most well-known endeavors is their “I’m Sorry” campaign at Chicago’s annual Pride Parade.  Wearing shirts that say, “I’m Sorry” and holding signs with such messages as, “I’m sorry for how the church has hurt you,” and, “I used to be a Bible-banging homophobe—sorry,” the group assembles volunteers to make a visible statement of apology and repentance to a community Christians have wounded.  In 2010, their efforts led to a particularly moving image of a parade participant hugging members of the Foundation across a road barrier.  In his description of that day, Foundation staff member Nathan Albert concludes:

“What I saw and experienced at Pride 2010 was the beginning of reconciliation. It was in the shocked faces of gay men and women who did not ever think Christians would apologize to them.

“What I saw and experienced at Pride 2010 was the personification of reconciliation. It was in the hugs and kisses I received, in the “thank you’s” and waves, in the smiles and kisses blown.

“I hugged a man in his underwear. I hugged him tightly. And I am proud.”

In all honesty, when people ask me what kind of ministry career I hope to pursue, I am finding it increasingly difficult to say anything other than, “I want to be doing the kind of thing the Marin Foundation is doing.”  Marin’s book and the work of the Foundation have both played a major role in inspiring and motivating this blog.  In my opinion, the grace, compassion, and love they demonstrate with Christians and with LGBT communities is nothing less than the Kingdom of God at work in our midst.

If you want to learn more about the Marin Foundation (and, in my humble opinion, you should), you can head to their website, their Facebook page, their Twitter feed, or Andrew Marin’s blog.